MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Moving to a new country is never easy, especially if you're a 3,000-pound whale.
KARISA TANG: The logistics, the number of people is absolutely extraordinary.
MARTIN: Dr. Karisa Tang is the lead veterinarian and vice president of animal health at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. They're helping relocate a pod of 30 beluga whales after an urgent plea from fellow zoologists.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The whales were stranded when an aquarium in Niagara Falls, Ontario, closed its doors. Tang explained some of what they need.
TANG: Comfortable slings that fit the right size animal, the transport containers that are specially designed for moving belugas. The cargo planes that can hold not only that weight of animal, but also the people needed to attend to them the entire time. The trucks that get, you know, to and from the airport.
MARTIN: The Shedd Aquarium is giving four of the whales a new home. Some of the remaining belugas are headed for other places that specialize in beluga whale care, like Georgia Aquarium, SeaWorld San Diego and Oceanografic Valencia in Spain.
FADEL: As for Shedd's new residents, Tang says Acadia, Osiris, Sierra and Lillooet handled the move well.
TANG: The transport itself went as well as it possibly could have. Everybody is safe, all humans and animals. And the thing is, that's just Step 1.
FADEL: The belugas can take weeks or even months to acclimate to their new surroundings and get acquainted with Shedd's other residents, including eight other beluga whales who live in six interconnected habitats.
TANG: So we're truly taking it day by day, hour by hour and following their lead in terms of what they're ready for in the next moment.
MARTIN: Tang and her team are monitoring and recording the whales' behavior and health.
TANG: Of course, they have different personalities. Acadia is a little bit more of a leader right now. Lillooet's a little bit more of a follower. And so learning each of their little quirks and dynamics between each other is really important for their care.
FADEL: Shedd is preparing to receive up to six more whales from the closed Canadian aquarium in the near future.
(SOUNDBITE OF GOJIRA SONG, "FLYING WHALES") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
